Cook @ Ease

Misuse of Oxytocin in Fruits, Vegetables and Dairy Farming

Kamala — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 17:41:07 +0000

How safe are the vegetables, fruits and dairy products that we consume everyday ? Read further to know some shocking facts.

Sometimes I see vegetables and fruits in abnormally bigger sizes in the market. I was under the impression that the country’s advanced science and technology has reached fruits and vegetable farming sector. But recent news reports indicate increased misuse of a drug called Oxytocin in fruits, vegetable farming and dairy farming sectors.

Some disturbing facts about the use of this drug Oxytocin are

this drug Oxytocin is
- injected in the roots of the plants to produce bigger and more quantity of fruits and vegetables.
- injected in cows and buffaloes to produce more milk without considering the side effects caused to the animals.
to the consumer
- when we consume these fruits/vegetables and dairy products, we are unknowingly consuming this drug that is harmful to our health.
- even before buying, it is not possible to identify and avoid these harmful fruits/vegetables and dairy products.

How to survive ? (When we are not sure whether fruits, vegetables and dairy products are safe to eat)

Pachai Kothamalli (Hara Dhania/Coriander Leaves) Thokku

Kamala — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:09:12 +0000

Coriander or cilantro is known for its flavor and medicinal value. It plays a dominant role in Indian kitchen. During the season, when plenty of coriander leaves are available, this can be used to make chutney and thokku.

This differs from my Coriander and Curry Leaves Thokku as this thokku uses only coriander leaves and the spices used are also different. I like to have this with curd rice.

Coriander leaves are known as Pachai Kothamalli in Tamil and as Hara Dhania in Hindi.

Ingredients

Washed and chopped coriander leaves (loosely packed) – 2½ cup
Red chilli – 12 to 15 no
Asafetida powder –½ tea spoon (adjust as per your need)
Tamarind – marble size
Split black gram or urad dal – handful
Grated jaggery – 1 table spoon (optional)
Salt – as per taste
Oil – 1 tea spoon

Method

Heat a pan with little oil; add asafetida powder and fry well; add urad dal, red chilli; fry till urad dal is red in colour and roasted well; remove and keep.
Split tamarind into small pieces; roast it in the the dry pan for few seconds and remove.

Add coriander leaves in the pan; stir till the moisture is evaporated; you can add few drops of oil if needed; remove and cool.

Now the roasted ingredients are ready for grinding.

In a blender, add roasted red chilli, asafetida powder, urad dal, salt, tamarind and run the mixie till coarsely powdered.

Add jaggery and run the mixie for few seconds.

Then add coriander leaves, run the mixie once/twice or till all mix together; the coriander leaves should be partially ground to give more flavor.

Now tasty Pachai Kothamalli (Coriander Leaves) Thokku is ready. Keep it in a air-tight container.

You can shape it as a ball also and keep.

Tips

Tender stems of coriander also can be used in this thokku.
Store it in fridge to preserve it for a week.

Pavakkai Pitlai (Bitter Gourd/Karela in Urad Dal Kofta Curry)

Kamala — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:23:28 +0000

Bitter gourd is good for health and has medicinal value. Normally I prepare a stir fry with bitter gourd by adding plenty of onion and red chilli powder to neutralize bitterness. Pitlai is popular in some parts of Tamil Nadu. Here is Pavakkai Pitlai (Bitter Gourd/Karela in Urad Dal Kofta Curry). Pitlai can also be prepared with eggplant, drumstick, unripe tomato etc.,

As most of the children (including some grown ups) don’t like bitter gourd, fried papads and small urad dal balls (bondas or koftas) are added in this pitlai to make it attractive, tasty and to neutralize bitterness.

Bitter gourd is known as Pavakkai in Tamil and as Karela in Hindi.

Ingredients

Bitter gourd chopped – 1 cup
Toor dal – ½ cup
Urad dal – ½ cup
Brown chick peas – ½ cup
Tamarind – big marble size (adjust as per taste)
Turmeric powder – ½ tea spoon
Red chilli powder – 1 tea spoon
Papad any type – 4 no
Sugar – 1 table spoon (optional)
Oil – for frying small urad dal balls
Salt – as per taste
Spices for grinding
- Grated coconut – ½ cup
- Coriander seeds – 1 table spoon
- Bengal gram – 1 table spoon
- Urad dal – ½ tea spoon
- Red chilli – 4 no
- Asafetida – generous pinch
- Curry leaves – 2 to 3 no
For seasoning
- Mustard – ½ tea spoon
- Urad dal – ½ tea spoon
- Curry leaves – few

Method

Soak chick pea for 6 to 8 hours; soak urad dal for 30 minutes; soak tamarind and extract juice.
Boil toor dal, chick pea together nicely.

Grind urad dal to a thick paste.

With few drops of oil, fry ingredients given for grinding (add grated coconut in the last and fry).

Cool and grind the fried items to a coarse paste and keep.

Boil bitter gourd with red chilli powder, turmeric powder, tamarind juice and salt.

When bitter gourd is cooked soft, add boiled toor dal, chick pea, ground masala, sugar and boil for few minutes (add water if necessary).

When all items are cooked well, remove; do the seasoning separately, mix and keep.

Heat a pan with oil; make small balls with ground urad dal paste; deep fry well and remove.

Cut papad into pieces and deep fry.

Add fried urad dal balls and papads in pitlai.

Keep for 10 minutes to settle. Now Pavakkai Pitlai (Bitter Gourd/Karela in Urad Dal Kofta Curry) is ready.

Serve hot with rice.

Tips

Deep fried urad dal balls and papads will absorb the water content of pitlai (this helps to some extent to neutralize the bitterness of bitter gourd).
It is not necessary to add fried urad dal balls and papads in pitlai using other vegetables.

Pachai Milagai (Hari Mirch) Thokku (Green Chilli Spread)

Kamala — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:37:24 +0000

Thokku (a type of pickle, popular in Tamil Nadu) can be prepared with coriander leaves, curry leaves, lemon, mangai inji, gooseberry, tomato, onion, chilli etc.,

Here is Pachai Milagai (Hari Mirch) Thokku (Green Chilli Spread). This goes well with curd rice and snacks. This hot spicy thokku is easy to prepare and can be kept for months in fridge.

Green Chilli is known as Pachai Milagai in Tamil and as Hari Mirch in Hindi.

Ingredients

Green chilli – 25 to 30 no
Tamarind – lemon size (adjust as per hotness of chilli)
Salt – as per taste
Asafetida powder – ½ tea spoon
Sugar – 1 to 2 table spoon (optional)
For seasoning
- Mustard – 1 tea spoon
- Curry leaves – few
- Sesame oil – 4 to 6 table spoon

Method

Wash green chillies and remove the stem; add this in a blender with salt, asafetida powder, tamarind and grind it to a fine paste (if needed add little water).

Heat a heavy bottom pan with oil and do the seasoning; add the ground green chilli paste, cook in moderate flame by stirring in between (add remaining oil little by little as necessary).

Add sugar and mix well.

Cook for 10 to 15 minutes or till the color changes to dark blackish green; remove the mix when it leaves the sides of the pan or when it forms as a thick paste.

Hot and spicy Pachai Milagai (Hari Mirch) Thokku (Green Chilli Spread) is ready. Suits well with Curd Rice, Idli, Dosa etc.,

Tips

Cool it and store in air-tight container.
Use good quality asafetida as it gives nice flavor to thokku. Sugar helps to balance the taste.

Veppampoo (Neem Flower) Rasam

Kamala — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:57:10 +0000

All parts of neem tree (the sacred tree of Hindu religion) have medicinal value. When the summer season starts, the neem tree is with full of small white flowers. You can even smell its fragrance in air. In villages clean cloth is spread under the tree in the evening and the next day morning the fallen neem flowers are collected on it. The neem flowers are collected this way for some days. The flowers are then washed, dried in the sunlight and stored for use for the rest of the year. Neem flower is used in cooking in many ways.

Here is Veppampoo (Neem Flower) Rasam. Though this is slightly bitter in taste, it is very good for health. Approximately 4 cups of rasam can be prepared with the given quantity of ingredients.

Neem flower is called as Veppampoo in Tamil.

Here is the fresh neem flower and the sundried neem flower.

Ingredients

Dried neem flower – 1 heaped table spoon
Toor dal – 1 table spoon
Tamarind – marble size
Red chilli – 6 no
Coriander leaves and curry leaves – few
Turmeric powder – pinch
Asafetida powder – pinch
Salt – as per taste
For seasoning
- Mustard – ½ tea spoon
- Ghee/oil –1 tea spoon
- Curry leaves – few

Method

Take a pan with three cups of water; add toor dal, raw tamarind, salt, turmeric powder, red chilli, asafetida powder, few curry leaves; boil this till raw smell of tamarind leaves.

Now add two more cups of water in the boiling rasam; let it boil and remove when foam is formed on the surface; in another pan, add few drops of ghee/oil, do the seasoning and mix with rasam.

Heat the remaining ghee/oil; add neem flowers and fry in moderate heat till brown and crisp.

Add this in the hot rasam and mix well; add chopped coriander leaves and mix well.

Serve with rice or drink as soup.

Avarakkai Verkadalai (Broad Beans with Peanuts) Poriyal

Kamala — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:29:03 +0000

Here is a tasty Poriyal using Avarakkai and Verkadalai. Even those (including children) who don’t like beans, will find this attractive as peanuts are used in this side dish. This can be prepared with any other variety of beans too.

Broad beans are known as Avarakkai in Tamil and peanuts are known as Verkadalai in Tamil.

Ingredients

Broad beans chopped – 250 grams
Chopped onion – 1 table spoon
Peanut Skinned and roasted – 2 table spoon
Grated coconut – 2 table spoon
Garlic peeled – 2 cloves
Red chilli – 3 no
Salt – as per taste
For seasoning
- Mustard – ½ tea spoon
- Urad dal –½ tea spoon
- Curry leaves – few
- Oil – 1 tea spoon

Method

Grind together red chilli, garlic, half of peanuts coarsely in a blender and keep this masala aside.

Do the seasoning in a pan; add chopped onions and fry till it turns transparent; add chopped broad beans, salt and remaining peanuts.

Sprinkle handful of water, mix well, cover and cook till beans are done.

Now add ground masala, grated coconut and mix well.

Cook for few seconds and remove.

Serve as a side dish for rice and chappati.

Red Chilli Flavored Coconut Chutney

Kamala — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 12:18:40 +0000

Red Chilli Flavored Coconut Chutney tastes different from normal coconut chutney and can be prepared quickly.

This suits well with Idli, Dosa, Upma and any other snacks.

Ingredients

Grated coconut – 1 cup
Red chilli – 6 to 8 no
Small tomato – 1 no
Garlic peeled – 2 cloves
Roasted gram or fried gram – 1 table spoon
Salt – as per taste
For seasoning
- Mustard – ½ tea spoon
- Urad dal – ½ tea spoon
- Curry leaves – few
- Oil – 1 tea spoon

Method

Chop tomato and garlic into pieces; in a blender add grated coconut, red chilli, chopped tomato, chopped garlic, roasted gram, salt and grind to a smooth paste; add water and mix to adjust the consistency as necessary; transfer it to a suitable container.

Do the seasoning in a pan separately and mix with chutney.

Suits well with snacks.

Tips

You can fry red chilli in little oil and use it in this chutney as a variation.
Those who do not like garlic, may use asafetida instead of garlic.

Sanyo GOPAN to Use Rice Grains to Bake Bread at Home

Kamala — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:14:36 +0000

Sanyo, Japan is getting ready to sell from October 2010, the world’s first rice bread cooker using rice grains. I’m sure, in India also this product will be in demand to bake fresh rice bread at home.

Some interesting features of this rice bread cooker GOPAN (SPM-RB1000) are:

Uses rice grains instead of rice flour to bake bread.
Entire rice bread making process of milling (making rice paste), kneading, rising, and baking are done in this single unit.
Not only rice, other minor grains can also be used to bake bread including wheat bread.
Has 22 settings to bake wide variety of bread:
- rice bread settings – 7
- rice bread dough settings – 5
- wheat settings – 7
- wild yeast settings – 4
Has “Gluten-free Setting” to suit people with wheat allergy.
Size – 354 mm (width) x 278 mm (depth) x 387 mm (height)
Weight – 11 kg approx

View an interesting You Tube video clip: Sanyo GOPAN – Rice Bread Maker – DigInfo

For more details about this rice bread cooker with photographs, read from Sanyo news release in English and in Japanese.

Kanjeevaram (Kanchipuram) Idli

Kamala — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 02:39:21 +0000

Normally idlis are bland, plain and white in colour. Here is Kanjeevaram (Kanchipuram) Idli that is different. It is a colorful, seasoned idli. The seasoning gives nice taste and flavor to the idli. This is also offered as prasadam in some temples.

This is steam cooked as a big cake or cooked in small deep cups instead of using the standard idli-stand.

Ingredients

Par boiled rice – 1 cup
Raw rice – 1 cup
Split black gram or urad dal – ¾ cup
Dried ginger (sukku in Tamil) – small piece
Asafetida – 2 pinch
Cooking soda – pinch (optional)
Salt – as per taste
For seasoning
- Mustard – 1 tea spoon
- Urad dal – 1 tea spoon
- Bengal gram – 1 table spoon
- Chopped cashew nut – 1 heaped table spoon
- Crushed pepper – 1 table spoon
- Cumin seed – 1 tea spoon
- Chopped green chilli – 3 no
- Curry leaves – few
- Ghee – 2 table spoon
- Oil – 2 table spoon

Method

Soak raw rice and parboiled rice together for 3 hours; soak urad dal for 30 minutes; grind soaked dal to a paste (no need to grind more; it can be slightly coarse).

Grind rice to a coarse paste.

Mix both rice and dal paste; the batter should be like idly batter; add dry ginger powder, asafetida powder, salt and mix well.

Keep it for fermentation (it may take 8 to 10 hours depending on hot/cold climate).

Heat a pan with oil and ghee; add mustard, urad dal, Bengal gram and fry well; add cashew nut, crushed pepper, cumin seed, chopped green chilli, curry leaves; fry well and remove; when it cools little, add in the batter.

Add cooking soda also and mix well; now the batter is ready.

Grease small containers (I used small steel cups, katori); fill three-fourth with batter and steam cook for 10 to 15 minutes or till done.

Serve hot with any chutney. I served it with Red Chilli Flavored Coconut Chutney.

Here is a closer view of Kanjeevaram (Kanchipuram) Idli.

Mysore Rasam

Kamala — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:51:38 +0000

In Tamil Nadu, many varieties of Rasam are prepared. It is like soup, with spices added. Rasam tastes nice with steamed rice. Here is Mysore Rasam (as called in Tamil Nadu) that tastes different from other rasams.

Approximately 3 to 4 cups of rasam can be prepared with the given quantity of ingredients.

Ingredients

Boiled toor dal – 2 table spoon
Tamarind – marble size
Tomato – 1 small (optional)
Coriander seeds – 1 table spoon
Bengal gram – 1 table spoon
Pepper corns – 8 to 10 no
Red chilli – 3 no
Grated coconut – 1 table spoon
Turmeric powder – pinch
Asafetida – generous pinch
Coriander/curry leaves – few
Salt – as per taste
For seasoning
- Mustard – ½ tea spoon
- Ghee – few drops

Method

Soak tamarind for 10 minutes and extract juice (approximately one cup); chop tomato.
Heat a pan with 2 cups of water, tamarind juice, salt, turmeric powder, asafetida, curry leaves, chopped tomato; boil till the raw smell of tamarind leaves.

In the mean time, in another pan heat few drops of oil; fry coriander seed, pepper corns, red chilli, Bengal gram till it turns golden colour; add grated coconut in the end and fry for few seconds.

Cool and grind this to a coarse powder.

Add one more cup of water, boiled toor dal in the boiling rasam; let it boil for few seconds; when foam with bubbles start forming on the surface, reduce flame; add coriander leaves, ground powder, mix well and remove.

Do seasoning separately and mix with rasam.

Tasty, aromatic Mysore Rasam is ready. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Tips

While preparing rasam, care should be taken in deciding the quantity of tamarind (some tamarind taste too soar) and red chilli (some chilli taste too hot).